(Luft) Saab Gripen

[Quintus Fabius]

Gripen (Werbung) für die Niederlande:

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Und diverse Informationen von und für Gripen Fans:

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Some general Gripen info, not NG specific. It’s from me, Robban, and various others.

A hot engine change can be made in 45 minutes by a team of three. 10 maintenance hours per flight hour, includes all depot level maintenance. Twice as reliable as its competitors. Twice as easy to repair. Enough ground equipment to support four Gripens can be carried by a single C-130 Hercules. The Gripen can be refuled and rearmed in less than 10 minutes. An airborn time of 60 seconds is possible when on high alert with the APU running, all systems fully avaliable 10 seconds after take off. The F-16 needs 3-4 minutes, and its INS and radar will not be fully avaliable. Gripen mean time between failures(MTBF) is proven to be 7.6 hours. During Red Flag Alaska the seven Gripens that participated logged 346 hours during 225 missions, with 99% availability, USAF best MTBF is 4.1 hours. The Gripen costs less than 2000$ per flight hour. Airframe life is 8000 hours. On a CAP 385km from base, a Gripen can stay on station for two hours carrying 2X AMRAAM, 2X AIM-9 and 2X droptanks. When carrying 3X 1000lbs GBU-16 on a LO-LO-LO strike profile, the Gripen has a mission radius of 648km. With 2X GBU-16's and extra fuel tanks radius increases to 833km. Ferry range is 3500km according to Col Jan Jonsson of the Swedish Air Warfare Center. The Gripen can accelerate from M 0,5 to M 1,1 in 30 seconds. The Gripen can sustain M 1,1 using dry thrust, while carrying a droptank and AAM's. The Gripen can operate from 600m long and 9m wide road*****s. Take off and landing distances can be down to 350 meters. We have made simulated hangar landnings with Gripen, without needing to get hooked, successfully. Now, that probably isn’t needed for most forces, and it still needs to proven realistically on a factual ship. But I’m confident that it can do it, no problems.

Radar (JAS-39): 20% longer than RDY (M2000-5), and 40% longer than the AN/APG-68 for F-16C/D Block40/42. The detection range for the APG-68(v)9 (Polish F-16) is 90~105 km for RCS 5m2 target. The PS-05 detection range against similar sized target is >120km.

JAS-39A: the effective range for Gripen to detect MIG-29 is 60 km longer than the effective range for MIG-29 to detect Gripen. F-16C/D: the effective range for Falcon to detect MIG-29 is 5 km longer than the effective range for MIG-29 to detect Falcon.

Take into consideration the 0.1m2 (average) RCS of the Gripen(F-16C 1.2m2), its superior manoeuvrability and agility, its TIDLS, and its much superior MMI, SA, EWS39 and much more modern infrastructure, the Polish F-16's would never know what hit them. And this RCS is for an Gripen A version. The C version is even smaller, and the NG smaller yet. According to some USAF sources, the F22 radar signature is that of a small bird, the F-35 that of a smaller chicken, and the Gripen NG with air-air missiles as that of a medium-large bird of pray, such as an Eagle, in terms of IR/Heat, the Gripen and the Rafalé performs very well, and even having smaller signatures than that of the F-22 and F-35.

During Spring Flag 2007 when the Hungarians participated in their first international exercise with their Gripens they flew for the red team, meaning their job was to die. They rarely had AWACS or radar support of any kind and they weren't allowed to use AMRAAM's. Yet they made 10 kills in a day. Including a Typhoon. The Hungarian pilots commented that other aircraft couldn't see them on radar, not even visually, and they had no jammers of their own with them. They got a Fox 2 kill on an F-16 who turned in between the two Gripens but never saw the other guy and it was a perfect shot. The Gripen was designed to take on and beat the Su-27 and future derivatives of its design. It's not a machine that needs to be complemented by a larger more capable fighter (F-15-F-16). It's not a more modern F-16 like so many people seems to think.

During Red Flag the Gripens didn't even need to use their EWS39. They remained undetected anyway. And no disrespect to the Norwegian pilots because I know they're just as well trained as us, but during a combat exercise with the Royal Norwegain Air Force, 3 Swedish Gripens went up against 5 RNAF F-16's. The Result was 5-0, 5-0, 5-1 after having flown 3 rounds. During Loyal Arrow in Sweden, 3 F-15C's from the USAF were intercepted by a Gripen acting as an aggressor. The result was 2 F-15's having been shot down and one managed to escape due to better thrust/weight. One Gripen pilot knocked down five F-16 block 50+ during close air combat in Red Flag Alaska. And the Gripens never lost any aerial encounter, or failed their mission objectives. It was the only fighter that perfomed all planed starts, while others where sitting on the ground waiting for the weather to clear up

F-16 has a higher TWR, but one need to consider drag and wing loading too. The Gripen has much lower drag. And far lower wing loading. It can reach supersonic speeds on dry thrust while carrying a full armament of four AMRAAM's two Sidewinders and an external fuel tank. Even though the Gripen lacks the TWR of the F-16 it can nearly match it in climb rate thanks to low drag. The Gripen has positive lift on all control surfaces at all times. The F-16 needs to kill lift in order to turn by forcing the tail down. The Gripen just adds lift in front of the CG with the canards and the aircraft turns by itself. The canards then stabilize the turn rate, creating minimal drag. The IRIS-T is now being integrated for the Gripen. And with its modern infrastructure it can make much better use of it than the F-16. The Gripens ITR is much better than the F-16's and will therefore get its weapons on the F-16 first. The Mirage 2000 for example wins 9 times out of 10 against the F-16 in WVR, and nearly always kills the F-16 during the first turn. This is thanks to its higher ITR. And the Gripen has a higher ITR than the Mirage 2000.

Gripens flight computer is outstanding, and can make some worldclass calculations. Gripens Fedec are highly impressive, it even has a backup mechanical calculation system. something only a handful of companies can manage. The air craft also incorporate a very low radar profile making it hard to find. And it has a superior data link. And in real tests against other aircrafts the radar has been found very hard to jam by other systems, meaning that it will work in practice, not only in theory. And those country's using it have found it working in all weathers.

The radar is capable of detecting, locating, identifying and automatically tracking multiple targets in the upper and lower spheres, on the ground and sea or in the air, in all weather conditions. It can guide four air to air missiles (AMRAAM, MBDA Meteor) simultaneously at four different targets.

"The Gripen has seven external hardpoints for carrying payloads: one at each wingtip, two under each wing and one on the fuselage centreline. The air-to-air missiles include MBDA (formerly Matra BAe Dynamics) MICA, Raytheon AIM-120B AMRAAM and Lockheed Martin / Raytheon Sidewinder AIM-9L (Swedish Air Force Designation RB74).

Sidewinder, mounted on the wingtips, is an all-aspect attack, short-range missile for enhanced dogfight capability. Air-to-surface missiles include the radar-guided Saab RBS15F anti-ship missile and Raytheon Maverick missile. Later versions of the aircraft for Sweden will be armed with the short-range Diehl BGT Defence IRIS-T air-to-air missile and the MBDA Meteor beyond visual range (BVR) air-to-air missile. Deliveries of IRIS-T began in December 2005. Meteor is due to enter service in 2010. The Saab Bofors / MBDA Taurus KEPD 350 long-range stand-off missile, with a range of 350km, has been successfully flight tested on the Gripen. In May 2008, South Africa placed an order for the IRIS-T air-to-air missile to equip its Gripen fleet until the indigenous Denel A Darter missile enters service.

The internally mounted 27mm Mauser high-energy gun can operate in an automatic radar-guided aiming mode. (The 27mm Mauser BK 27 revolver cannon was designed specifically for the Panavia Tornado strike fighter, although it is also used in Germany's version of the Alpha Jet, in the SAAB Gripen, and has been chosen for the Eurofighter Typhoon and the JSF. A four-barrel naval CIWS mount was developed but not used; a simpler remote-control single-barrel mounting is achieving more success.

The latest round is the 30x150B used in the GIAT 30M791, which has been selected for the new Dassault Rafale. Capable of 2,500 rpm, it holds the record as the joint fastest-firing revolver cannon. The rim, belt and head dimensions are different from those of the original 30x113B DEFA case.) The stand-off dispenser is the DWF39 from EADS (formerly DaimlerChrysler Aerospace) and Bofors. The Bofors ARAK 70 rocket pod is cleared for carriage on the Gripen. "

The original NG radar specs. Those may have changed slightly, but if so, to the better I expect.

“Ericsson’s future airborne radar is Not Only a Radar, NORA (for the NG), but also a complete electronic warfare system including jamming and data communication. The new radar will use an Active Electronically Scanned Array, AESA, built up with approximately 1000 individual transmit/receive modules. The antenna, mounted on a single-axis platform, will give well over 200? coverage in azimuth. NORA will offer superior performance by virtue of a number of core capabilities at Ericsson – beam agility, beam widening, multi-channel processing, target-specific waveforms and low radar cross-section.....

It's planned to scan +-60 deg electronically and 60 deg mechanically in azimut, permitting scanning over a 240 deg arc and electronically +-60 deg up and downwards. ...

Fully programmable signal and data processors enable the radar to handle these air defence, attack and reconnaissance missions. This also gives the radar a very high growth potential to meet future requirements. The radars flexible waveforms make it possible to avoid ambiguities and allow performance characteristics to be optimized for all operating modes. The radar also matches the data link requirements for advanced medium range missiles...Ericsson has started development work for upgrading the PS05/A multimode radar. Some of the up-grades have been possible to incorporate, since new, faster and more powerful processors and components have become available on the market. An essential part of these upgrades is a new data processor who will replace the D80 processor in the Systems Computer in Swedish Air Force Gripens. It is a Modular Airborne Computer System (MACS) with higher capacity. A significant upgrade of the signal processor is also included which will dramatically enhance functions in both air-to-air and air-to-ground missions....

Ericsson AESA (Active Electronically Scanned Array) is a new airborne radar project currently in development at Ericsson Microwave Systems. The AESA technology will improve the radars overall performance drastically, especially its target detection and tracking capability. Beam direction can be changed instantaneously, detection range will be considerably increased, and jamming suppression further improved. The AESA radar will feature multibeam capability with all beams individually and simultaneously controlled. It can also operate simultaneously as a fire control and obstacle warning radar, and be used both in intercept and ground attack missions. The multibeam concept also allows for radar operation, data linking, radar warning and jamming simultaneously. As a consequence of the very large number of transmitter and receiver modules, the radar will have a high system availability through graceful degradation...."

Gripen will, due to size only, give approximate 25% of the radar reflection of a F35 JSF. Our ASEA radar have the ability to 'see' stealthed aircrafts due to the 'electromagnetic holes' they will create in the air flying under stealth. We don't need to 'burn through' to do that, it will be 'passive mode', defining their position. The Lockheed Martins JSF.still weights around 2000kg to much, and they will have significant trouble reducing that weight. And when the aircraft is taxing on the ground it is near a 'meltdown' due to its heat conditions.

Our new Gripen will see a F35 JSF coming at least as fast as it will be able to see a Gripen, and that is in good time before any need to shoot. We choose away any increased 'stealth', due to that it generally cost a aircraft its flight performance, creates a small weapon load, combined with a higher fuel consumption.

Then we come to the Digital Link. Ever heard about the Internet? And why it was built the way they did it. In case of a nuclear war my friends. They made the Internet ‘peer to peer’ so that with only a few nodes left they still would be able to communicate. We started planning for this kind of airborn link in the fifties. Draken was our first aircraft using it, decades before anyone else. We have a long, long experience of developing and using this system. Don’t mix it with any other Digital link system. And don’t believe that because the newest generation of aircrafts are trying to incorporate it they have our experience. We are still the world leaders on peer to peer digital links, and that’s nothing but the truth.

When we, more or less, ‘joined NATO’ we had to downgrade our system as they used an inferior system without peer to peer, namely LINK 16. And that one I still find hard to forgive our military geniuses, that they so much craved to play with the big boys that they choose to weaken our defence capability (TARAS). It Sux, bigtime. But we still have our link, adapting it to NATO. So we will use both. Ours because it will work, without AWACS, we can bind it to any other vehicles aircrafts etc still existing surviving in the warzone, lending their radar images while coming ‘silent’ without radar ourselves. Can you see what that that makes possible?

Also we should be able to connect several individual radars to get a really ‘wide picture’ if needed, although this is my own guess, as well as we might be able too use those radars to ‘magnify’ the reception. But those two is what I think, so, if we can you won’t see any papers on that. But it’s quite possible; after all, we’ve had forty years of ongoing development. The second demands a lot of computer-power in ‘real time’ situations though? So.. A maybe perhaps , I would definitely have tried though as that would create, using the combined radars, a ‘super radar’ accessible to all pilots, and ground bases/vehicles too.

The first Drakens with datalink capability were J35B's with the Stril 60 system, delivered in 1964. A centralised system is not the same, so please don’t argue about this. At least read up on why Internet is thought to survive a nuclear war and still be able to connect before you do.

Americans had a similar data-link in the MA-1 fire control system. F-101B's fitted with a datalink system that were operational by 1962, called NORAD SAGE. But the F-101B had only a passive datalink. The pilot followed SAGE steering commands transmitted by the datalink to his displays which made it no more than a centralized digital flight-commander. You need to see the difference between those concepts to understand what I’m talking about, and that one you will know best in a real fight. But you won’t, as you won’t know what hit you. With our system there is very little warning. The first warning will be when you notice the missile homing in on you, and by then it will be far too late.

Man sollte nicht alles glauben, aber manches davon ist durchaus wahr: kein anderes modernes (westliches) Kampffllugzeug ist so billig und so robust und braucht so wenig Wartung und kann so viele Einsätze in kurzer Zeit fliegen.